Method and system for managing magazine portfolios

ABSTRACT

A method and system for organizing magazine subscription information. The method including collecting subscription information from one or more fulfillment houses and organizing or associating the subscription information by household. In one embodiment, the subscription information organized by household is made available to a consumer of a particular household so that the consumer may make changes to all subscription information associated with the household. In one embodiment, the consumer associates a credit card or other account with the household subscription information; the account is charged as payment for the household subscriptions.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention

[0002] The present invention relates generally enabling the consumer toservice multiple magazine subscriptions previously purchased throughdifferent publishers and sources and, more particularly, to a method anda system of automatically organizing subscriptions and subscriptioninformation by household.

[0003] 2. Description of the Related Art

[0004] The magazine industry is old (200 years and counting),diversified and large. The industry will generate roughly $25 billion insales this year from the sale of advertising, single copies on thenewsstand and subscription sales. This year, Americans will purchaseover 300,000,000 subscriptions and spend $8 billion to buy them. Usingthe broadest of measures, there are over 3,000 magazines published,although only about 600 are tracked by trade organizations such as theAudit Bureau of Circulations (ABC).

[0005] The industry is diffuse in other ways too, such as the ways itsells and services subscriptions. Subscription services are typicallyoutsourced to third party subscription providers who warehousesubscriber (i.e., consumer) names; manufacture mailing labels; print,mail and process renewal notices and bills; and provide consumerservice.

[0006] Similarly, publishers often outsource subscription marketing.Today 60% of all new subscriptions are provided by third party marketersknown in the trade as subscription agents or “agents”. Typically, theagent is allowed only to sell the initial subscription and is requiredto “turn over” the consumer to the publisher for renewal. It is also thetrade practice to require the seller to handle related consumer care.Thus, were a consumer to Time Magazine, who bought her subscriptionthrough Publisher Clearing House (PCH), to direct a service complaint tothe publisher—Time, Inc. (Time), Time would likely refuse service tothat individual and instead refer that consumer back to the subscriptionprovider. While the remedy appears draconian, the rationale is groundedin logic. Time does not share subscription data with PCH; does not havea system link to PCH; and PCH, for its part, returns the courtesy andshares only essential subscription data.

[0007] This is not the only area where the magazine industryunder-serves the consumer. Magazines will mail 7, 10, even 15 renewalnotices and place phone calls starting only weeks after someonesubscribed and not ending until months after the subscription was cut tobadger consumers into renewing. They will also send multiple dunningnotices to pester consumers to pay for the renewal bought on credit. Therefusal to service consumers and the oppressive renewal and billingprocess results in an enormous inconvenience for consumers in managingtheir portfolio of magazines.

[0008] On average, each American household enjoys three subscriptions toTime, Sports Illustrated, National Geographic or to any one of hundredsof other well-known magazine brands. But like any product, consumptionfollows a bellshaped curve. Only 20% of American homes subscribe to nomagazines, but over 10 million subscribe to 7 or more. When we multiplyall the foregoing renewal notices and bills by the average number ofsubscriptions, the average American home receives over 30 remindersannually from publishers. Heavy readers can receive more than 100!

[0009] The renewal and billing process creates more confusion for theconsumer. It has a significant effect on their magazine experience.Renewals and bills are mailed at such a furious pace that consumerresponses and publisher solicitations will cross in the mail even ifconsumers respond the first day they get a renewal notice. It is notunusual for a consumer to discover that he paid for a subscription yearsinto the future. What if consumers wanted to reduce their subscriptionsor correct an overpayment? They would have a difficult time fixing it.Call the publisher? Publishers publish everything but their phonenumber. Call the publishers' outsourced service bureaus? Only if youbought the subscription directly from the publisher. If the consumerpurchased one of the tens of millions of subscriptions that are boughteach year from a subscription agent, the service bureau would refuse toserve the consumer.

[0010] The “system”, as it exists today, is oppressive and confusing forthe consumer. The return rate in the publishing industry is abysmallyhigh—a tribute not to the quality of their products but the malignanceof their marketing proposition. The “system” is also much more costlythan it needs to be. On a net renewal subscription basis, publishersspend roughly 30% of what they collect on retention promotions. That ismany, many times higher than for credit cards, cable television, homedelivered newspapers, or online services.

[0011] The Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) serves as the magazineindustry “referee”, counting the magazine sales that count toward apublisher's rate base. A publisher's advertising revenue is based on itsrate base. A sale or renewal qualifies to be counted toward apublisher's rate base if the dollar amount committed from the consumerexceeds half of the publisher's established price known as the basicrate. Thus, for every sale above the half basic rate, a publisherbenefits as that subscription is counted towards the rate base.

[0012] Purchases above the half basic rate can also benefit theconsumer. As established by ABC, dollars committed by a consumer inexcess of the half basic rate in a qualifying multiple-subscriptionpurchase can be applied to one or more additional subscriptions at noextra cost. For example, if a consumer pays full basic rate for twosubscriptions (eg., $30 each or $60 total), then the consumer isentitled to an additional subscription having a half basic rate equal tothat of the paid subscription to a maximum of amount paid in excess ofthe collective half basic rate (eg., $30). Thus amount in excess of thehalf basic rate is applied to meeting the half basic rate of theadditional subscription. Because ABC views a multiple subscriptionpurchase or renewal as a single event, when a consumer purchasesmultiple subscriptions, the amount in excess of the half basic rate foreach subscription may be aggregated and applied to one or moreadditional subscriptions. In the magazine industry vernacular, suchadditional, subscriptions available at no extra cost are known as“add-ons”.

[0013] While add-ons provide some level of an incentive for consumers topurchase subscriptions, add-ons are not broadly available. Because aconsumer purchases and renews subscriptions through many differentsources, the consumer is often unable to accumulate in a single eventenough dollars in excess of the half basic rate to qualify for anadd-on. Additionally, consumers typically do not know they are entitledto add-ons and, therefore, do not press for them. Consequently, a needalso exists for an improved method and system for providing consumerswith the incentive to purchase and renew subscriptions.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0014] The present invention satisfies the foregoing needs. In oneembodiment of the present invention, magazine subscription informationis collected from one or more fulfillment houses. The collectedsubscription information is organized or associated together byhousehold. In another embodiment, the organized subscription informationis made available to a consumer of a particular household so that theconsumer may make changes to all subscription information associatedwith the household. In yet another embodiment, the consumer associates acredit card or other account with the household subscriptioninformation, and the account is charged for the household subscriptions.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0015] The following drawings illustrate certain preferred embodimentsof the present invention and constitute part of the specification.

[0016]FIG. 1 is an overall schematic of one embodiment of the presentinvention.

[0017]FIG. 2 is a schematic of the central agent of one embodiment ofthe present invention.

[0018]FIGS. 3a-3 d illustrate the household database, subscriptiondatabase, add-on database, and magazine database of one embodiment ofthe present invention.

[0019]FIGS. 4a-4 c is a flow chart of the overall operation of oneembodiment of the present invention.

[0020]FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating the function of householdingof one embodiment of the present invention.

[0021]FIGS. 6a-6 b is a flow chart illustrating the function ofproviding add-on subscriptions according to one embodiment of thepresent invention.

[0022]FIG. 7 is a flow chart illustrating the process of billing aconsumer according to one embodiment of the present invention.

[0023]FIG. 8 is a schematic of a central agent according to oneembodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0024] One embodiment of the present invention is designed to end allthis consumer confusion and publisher expense by replacing the existingcobbled-together network at hundreds of insourced and outsourced serviceproviders (each with unique rules and standards) with a universal systemthat is marked by ease of use, a superior consumer experience, greatercost effectiveness and a singular service standard. According to oneembodiment of the present invention, consumers will go to a databaseaccessible through a website, and look up their entire currentsubscription portfolio and relevant subscription data includingexpiration date and amount paid. They will also be able to convert theirentire portfolio to a single credit card, and have their card billed,one magazine at a time, on an expire-appropriate basis. And they cansolve the most common customer service problems themselves: change theiraddress (once—for all magazines); cancel; add new subscriptions; givemagazines as gifts and even write a letter to the editor. In essence,the present invention can serve as a “magazine manager” for allsubscriptions in a household.

[0025] In addition to the added convenience, reduced confusion and theelimination of the “crossed-in-the-mail” problem, consumers would beattracted to because of various other incentives apparent from thefollowing description.

[0026] Certain embodiments of the present invention will now bedescribed with reference to the figures. A schematic of one system 100according to one embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG. 1.In general, the system 100 includes a central agent 110 coupled to aplurality of fulfillment houses 120 and a plurality of consumers 130. Inthe present embodiment, the central agent 110 is coupled to the Internet(worldwide web) over which communication is made with the consumers 130.More specifically, the central agent 110 provides a web site throughwhich it offers to the consumers 130 the various services describedherein. Thus, each consumer 130 has a consumer interface device, such asa personal computer, set-top box, portable device, or the like to accessthe web.

[0027] Each of a plurality of fulfillment houses 120 is also coupled tothe central agent 110. In the present embodiment, these connections aremade via a network, such as a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) wide areanetwork (WAN). In an alternate embodiment, however, the connection witheach fulfillment house may be over any of a number of communicationpaths including over the Internet, via a public switched telephonenetwork and the like.

[0028] As will be described in detail below, the central agent 110receives “vertically” stored subscription information from thefulfillment houses 120, filters and reorganizes the subscriptioninformation “horizontally”, across all magazines by household,effectuates the billing and fulfillment of consumers' subscriptions andinteracts with the consumers 130 to provide consumer services (e.g., toanswer queries and update consumer records). In general, the centralagent 110 provides database management services, which includesfiltering subscription information and reorganizing the subscriptioninformation horizontally by household, transaction services, whichinclude effectuating the billing and fulfillment of individualsubscriptions, and consumer services, which includes answering inquiriesand updating subscription and consumer information.

[0029] A more detailed schematic of the central agent 110 will now bedescribed with reference to FIG. 2. In general, the central agent 110comprises a three tier or layered structure. The first layer is alogical presentation layer, which provides the graphical user interface(GUI) of the web site through which each consumer interfaces with thecentral agent 110. The second layer is the application layer, whichprovides support logic for the GUI and establishes the business rulesthat dictate the operation of the system. The third layer is thedatabase management layer, which interacts with the application layer toretrieve, modify, and store information. In addition to these threelayers, the central agent 110 also includes an optimizing search server260 and a management console 270.

[0030] Other optional components of the central agent 110 include a loadbalancing server 210 and a switch 215. The load balancing server 210distributes web hits over the architecture of the central agent 110 viathe switch 215. In other words, the load balancing server 210 monitorsthe architecture to determine what components are relatively busy anddirects traffic away from those components.

[0031] The central agent 110 also includes a presentation server farm220. The presentation server farm 220 contains the servers that providethe functionality associated with the first and second layers of thearchitecture namely, the logically presentation layer and theapplication layer. Specifically, the presentation server farm 220includes logical presentation servers 222 that are programmed to providethe GUI resident on the web page accessed by the consumers 130. Alsopart of the presentation server farm 220 are the application servers224. The application servers 224 provide the support and logic for theGUI created by the logical presentation servers 222. As noted above, theapplication servers 224 also and provide the business rules that governthe operation of the central agent 110. Such operation will be discussedin detail below with references to FIGS. 4-7.

[0032] In one embodiment of the invention, the presentation server farm220 also includes hot swap servers 226, 228 for both the logicalpresentation servers 222 and application servers 224, respectively. Suchhot swap servers provide redundancy and allow for continued availabilityin the event of a component failure.

[0033] Related to the presentation server farm 220 is the presentationstaging server 230. The presentation staging server 230 providestemporary functionality of the presentation server farm 220 during theperiod the presentation server farm 220 (and/or the software residing onthe servers) is being upgraded. The presentation staging server 230allows the migration of the logical presentation and application layerssoftware.

[0034] The architecture of the central agent 110 also includes adatabase server farm 240, which provides the functionality for thedatabase maintenance layer. Specifically, the database server farm 240includes household database 242, subscription database 244, add-ondatabase 246, and a magazine database 248. In the present embodiment, aseparate server accesses each database, although in an alternateembodiment, a single server may access more than one database. Like thepresentation server farm 220, the database server farm 240 includes aseries of hot swap and staging servers 250, 252, 254, 256, one for eachof the databases.

[0035] As described in detail below, the household database 242organizes subscriptions horizontally, by household; the subscriptiondatabase 244 contains magazine subscription information; the add-ondatabase 246 temporarily stores add-on subscription information; and themagazine database 248 stores magazine information defining each possiblesubscription. The fields of each database and the purpose of each willbe discussed in greater detail below.

[0036] The central agent 110 also includes an optional search server 260and corresponding hot swap server 262. The search server 260 is coupledto the database server farm 240 to optimize the search capability of thecentral agent 110. More specifically, the presentation server farm 220controls the search server 260, which in turn, locally storesinformation from the databases 242, 244, 246, 248, as needed andperforms the necessary searches of information. Like the other hot swapservers, the search hot swap server 262 provides redundancy should thesearch server 260 fail.

[0037] The central agent 110 also includes a management console 270 formonitoring the architecture. The management console 270, which in thepresent embodiment takes the form of one or more NT workstations,monitors architecture performance, web traffic component loads, andoverall network load. The management console 270 also performs thefunction of failure detection and switching to a hot swap or stagingserver.

[0038] The central agent 110 also includes three gateways or links: abusiness to business and database maintenance gateway 280, a fulfillmentand merchant processing gateway 282, and a business administration andcustomer service gateway 284. As will become apparent to those skilledin the art based upon the following description, these gateways arecommunication links to other devices.

[0039] The business to business and database maintenance gateway 280 isa link to the fulfillment houses 120. In the present embodiment, thisgateway 280 is in the form of a file transfer protocol (FTP) wide areanetwork (WAN), although in alternate embodiments it may take the form ofany network or other communication link, such as a public switchedtelephone network and modem. In the simplest embodiment, the business tobusiness and database maintenance gateway 280 is not an electroniccommunication link, but rather a terminal through which the gatherednecessary information is manually entered. As described below, abusiness to business and database gateway 280 provides communicationwith the fulfillment houses 120 for the purposes of receivingsubscription information from the fulfillment houses 120 andtransmitting a service information to the fulfillment houses 120.

[0040] The fulfillment and merchant processing gateway 282 is alsocoupled to the database server farm 240. This gateway 282 providescommunication to an enterprise server 286. More specifically, a centralagent 110 communicates via the fulfillment and merchant processinggateway 282 with the enterprise server 286 for the purpose of fulfillingorders and effectuating billing. It is to be understood that theenterprise server 286 is not limited to any particular server, butrather may take the form of any commercially available server.

[0041] The central agent 110 also includes the business administrationand customer service gateway 284. Coupled to the presentation serverfarm 220, this gateway 284 provides a link to the customer service anddata management group of the central agent 110. More specifically, thebusiness administration and customer service gateway 284 is linked tocustomer service employees who receive customer inquiries, either by wayof the website, e-mail, or telephone and have access to the website andconsumer accounts via the business administration and service gateway284 and presentation server farm 220. In the one embodiment, theconsumer service employees have terminals coupled in the form ofpassword protected web-based access.

[0042] Having described the overall architecture of the central agent110, the details of each database will now be described in greaterdetail with reference to FIGS. 3a-3 d. It is to be understood that thefollowing descriptions of the databases is merely representative of onelogical arrangement of the information contained therein. Accordingly,as used herein, to say that information is organized in a particularmanner does not necessitate a particular physical arrangement butneither a particular logical association. Alternate embodiments of thepresent invention include different arrangements of information. Forexample, the same information may be contained in fewer or moredatabases. It is also to be understood that the information shown asbeing contained in any particular field is illustrative; for example,the information shown as being contained within the consumer field ofthe household database 242 may actually be comprised of several morespecific fields. (e.g., first name, surname, street address, apartmentnumber, city, state, zip code, etc.).

[0043] Turning first to FIG. 3a, the three-level structure of thehousehold database 242 is shown. The first level in the householddatabase 242 is the household identifier (ID). As described in detailbelow, the household identifier, as the name implies, is a random numberthat identifies each household. Each household ID corresponds to one ormore credit card numbers—the second level of the household database 242.Each credit card number, in turn, corresponds to one or more consumers,shown as the third level of the database 242.

[0044] Thus, to summarize the household database 242, the householdidentified by household ID 0000 0001 has two credit card numbers onfile. The first credit card number, 1234 5678 9012 3456, corresponds totwo consumers--Sandra Smith and Dick Smith. As shown by the same addressin the consumer field, both consumers are indeed part of the samehousehold.

[0045] The subscription database 244 is shown in FIG. 3b. In general,the subscription database 244 contains the subscription informationreceived from the fulfillment houses 120. More specifically, eachsubscription is assigned a subscription number. The subscriptioninformation includes consumer name, consumer address, magazine ID,current amount charged for the subscription, future amount charged forthe subscription, expiration date of the subscription, channel of saleof the subscription, and the origination date of the subscription. Thepurpose of these fields will be described below. In the presentembodiment, all of the subscription information is obtained from thefulfillment houses 120 via the business to business and databasemaintenance gateway 280.

[0046] Each record in the subscription database 244 also includes ahousehold ID field and a link field. The value in the household ID fieldindicates that the subscription in a certain record has been assigned tothe specified household, and the link field indicates whether or not aconsumer has linked a particular subscription to her account.

[0047] The add-on database 246 will now be described with reference toFIG. 3c. Each record in the add-on database 246 stores subscriptioninformation corresponding to a single awarded add-on subscriptionidentified by an add-on number. As such, the add-on database 246includes the following fields: consumer name, consumer address, magazineID and expiration date.

[0048] The magazine database 248 will now be described with reference toFIG. 3d. The magazine database 248 is best described as a three leveldatabase. The first level of the database includes publisher andfulfillment house information because there is a one-to-onecorrespondence between publisher and fulfillment house for a particularsubscription, the two fields are included in the same level. Magazineidentifying information, namely magazine ID and magazine title, areincluded in the second level. As shown, more than one magazine ID andmagazine title correspond to each publisher and fulfillment house.Because there is a one-to-one correspondence between magazine ID andmagazine title, both fields are included together in the second level.Finally, the magazine term (e.g., in months) and the half basic rate ofthe magazine are included in the third level. To summarize the magazineinformation in the magazine database 248, each publisher utilizes aspecific fulfillment house to fill orders for one or more magazinetitles. Each magazine title corresponds to a unique magazine ID, whichin turn corresponds to a term and half basic rate.

[0049] As can be seen from FIGS. 3a-d, the four databases areinterrelated. Thus, by way of example, household 000 0001 includesSandra Smith and Dick Smith. As identified in the Subscription Database244, the household (by way of Sandra Smith) includes subscriptions 00000001 and FFFF FFFF. These subscriptions correspond to magazine ID's TIM247 and SPI 126. These magazine ID's, in turn, correspond to particularentries in the Magazine Database 248. Additionally, add-on subscription0000 0001 also corresponds to household 0000 0001. The details of theinterrelation of these databases in described below.

[0050] Having described the components of the present embodiment, theoperation of the system 100 will now be described with reference toFIGS. 4a-4 b, 5, 6 a-6 b, and 7, and continuing reference to FIGS. 1, 2and 3 a-3 b. Turning first to FIGS. 4a and 4 b, the overall operation ofthe system 100 will now be described. As an initial step, the centralagent 110 receives the vertically stored subscription data from thefulfillment houses (step 410). More specifically, the central agent 110receives the subscription data from the fulfillment houses via thebusiness to business and database maintenance gateway 282. Oncesubscription data is received, the central agent 110 reorganizes thedata “horizontally”, by household (step 415).

[0051] Having received and reorganized the subscription data, thecentral agent 110 is ready to interact with the consumers 130. Once aconsumer 130 logs on to the website, the consumer 130 enters, and thecentral agent 110 receives, the consumer's credit card number (step420), name, and address (step 425). It is to be appreciated that theconsumer's credit card number is not used until later in the process;however, receiving the number as part of the consumer's initialinteraction with the website associates a certain level of legitimacywith the consumer.

[0052] Having received the consumer information, the central agent 110proceeds to determine and report to the consumer a list of subscriptionsmatched to the consumer's household (step 430). In order to report tothe consumer 130 subscriptions that match her household, the searchserver 260 (or database server farm 240) compares the received consumerinformation to the consumer information in each record of the householddatabase 242. Once the central agent 110 locates a record with matchingconsumer information, it notes the household ID and proceeds to locateeach record in the subscription database having that same household ID.These records in the subscription database 244 are those correspondingto the consumer's household.

[0053] In the present embodiment, the central agent 110 segregates thematched subscriptions into 2 groups: likely matches and possiblematches. The likely matches have a greater likelihood of correspondingto the consumer's household because the received consumer information(i.e., credit card number, name and address) more closely matches thecorresponding subscription data searched. For example, likely matchesare those instances where the apartment number, in addition to otherconsumer information, matches.

[0054] To ensure that all relevant subscriptions are accounted for, thepresentation server form 220 presents an inquiry to the consumerrequesting information on additional subscriptions that were not foundas a result of the search and requesting additional consumer informationthat may be used to search for additional subscriptions (step 435). Ifapplicable, the central agent 110 performs an additional search based onthe received consumer information and reports any additionalsubscriptions to the consumer 130.

[0055] Once the consumer 130 is presented with all subscriptionspossibly corresponding to the consumer's household, the consumer 130selects which subscriptions correspond to her household (step 440).Moreover, the consumer 130 selects the subscriptions she wishes to linkto the credit card number. If a consumer or household has more than onecredit card number associated therewith, a central agent 110 requeststhat the consumer 130 select one credit card number to which thesubscriptions will be linked and the appropriate charges applied. Thus,the central agent 110 receives the consumer's subscription links andupdates the databases (step 445). More specifically, for eachsubscription that is linked to the credit card, the central agent 110updates the linked field in the subscription database 244 to reflectthat the subscription has been linked. Additionally, the central agent110 updates the household ID field in each record of the subscriptiondatabase 244 corresponding to a subscription identified as correspondingto the consumer's household.

[0056] As described to the consumer 130 on the website, in the presentembodiment, the agreement to link a subscription equates to an agreementto renew the subscription. Accordingly, as described with reference toFIG. 7, the consumer 130 will be billed automatically upon the normalexpiration of the subscription. Furthermore, in the present embodiment,each consumer 130 will be automatically billed upon each successiveexpiration of each linked subscription until the consumer 130affirmatively cancels the subscription. Such continuous service isdescribed more fully in applicant's co-pending patent application Ser.No. 08/762,007, herein incorporated by reference.

[0057] Because each link equates to a promise to renew a subscription,the consumer 130 is in essence renewing several subscriptions at thesame time. Consequently, the central agent 110 is able to calculate andtransmit to the consumer 130 possible add-on subscription options (step450). The steps of calculating and transmitting potential add-ons isdescribed in greater detail with reference to FIGS. 6a-b.

[0058] After the potential add-ons are transmitted to the consumer 130,the consumer 130 enters her choices, which are received by the centralagent 110 (step 455).

[0059] As is explained to the consumer 130, the selected add-ons will belinked to the consumer's household. The consumer 130 will receive theadd-ons free until a specified expiration date, at which time theconsumer will have cancelled the subscription or been automaticallybilled for the subscription. Like other linked subscriptions, thenon-cancelled add-ons will also revert to the continuous service modeldescribed above.

[0060] Once the consumer 130 has linked subscriptions and selected anyavailable add-ons, the central agent 110 extracts transactioninformation from the databases (step 465). More specifically, thedatabase server farm 240 extracts information concerning linkedsubscriptions and transmits it via the fulfillment and merchantprocessing gateway 282 to the enterprise server 286. This transactioninformation is used for both the fulfillment and billing ofsubscriptions.

[0061] Specifically, the central agent 110 effectuates fulfillment ofthe subscriptions by transmitting notices to the fulfillment houses 120to supply magazines and to stop the mailing of renewal notices and bills(step 470). Additionally, the central agent 110 effectuates billingbased on the required amounts and expiration dates for the linkedsubscriptions (step 475). The step of billing consumers is described ingreater detail with reference to FIG. 7.

[0062] Finally, once the consumer 130 has been billed for the linkedsubscriptions, the central agent 110 remits payment to the publisher(step 480).

[0063] It is to be understood that the foregoing steps described in thegeneral operation of the system 100 need not be performed in theparticular order described. For example, it is to be understood that theinitial steps of receiving subscription data and reorganizing it occursperiodically, for example once every month. The interaction between thecentral agent 110 and the consumer 130, on the other hand, happens muchmore frequently, essentially every time a consumer 130 accesses thewebsite. Furthermore, the steps of extracting transaction informationand effectuating fulfillment, billing and publisher remit occurperiodically, for example, once every month or once everyday.

[0064] Furthermore, each individual step described need not be performedin the exact order shown. For example, the consumer information may bereceived in any order, and the consumer may select which subscriptionscorrespond to her household prior to being asked for other householdsubscriptions.

[0065] In other alternate embodiments, subscription information isorganized at different times in the overall process. For example, in oneembodiment, the subscription information is organized by household inreal-time, when the consumer 130 access the website. In such anembodiment, the consumer 130 enters the consumer information and thenthe central agent 110 queries the fulfillment houses 120 forsubscription information corresponding to the received consumerinformation. In yet another embodiment, the central agent 110 receivesfrom the fulfillment houses 120 the subscription information, stores theinformation, and organizes the information by household on aconsumer-by-consumer basis. In other words, only upon receiving aconsumer inquiry will the central agent 110 associate or organizesubscriptions from the inquiring consumer's household.

[0066] The step of reorganizing the subscription data horizontally byhousehold will now be described in greater detail with reference to FIG.5. Initially, the subscription data received from a fulfillment house120 must be placed into the subscription database 246 (step 510). It isto be understood that this operation may require a filtering ornormalization of the received data in order to place the subscriptiondata received from the various fulfillment houses into the same format.

[0067] Once the subscription data is received, the central agent 110begins searching each record in the subscription database 244 for thefirst record without a household ID (step 515). As will become apparent,any record in the database 244 without a household ID is a newlyreceived record. The central agent 110 then proceeds to read thehousehold information to identify the household (step 520).

[0068] Once the household information of the newly received record hasbeen read, central agent 110 proceeds to determine whether or not thatsame household information is already contained within the householddatabase 242 (step 525). If the household information already exists,then a household ID has already been assigned to that household.Accordingly, that household ID is entered into the subscription databaserecord (step 530).

[0069] If the newly received household information does not match thehousehold information already contained in the household database 242,then the household information is entered in the next available recordin the household database 242, thereby assigning the next availablehousehold ID number (step 535). Once the appropriate household ID hasbeen determined for the new subscription data (step 540), central agent110 proceeds to enter the household ID into the subscription database(step 540).

[0070] The central agent 110 then determines whether or not it hasreached the end of the subscription database (step 545). If the end ofthe subscription database 244 has been reached, then the central agent110 begins searching for the next record in the subscription databasenot having a household ID (step 515).

[0071] On the other hand, if the end of the subscription database 244has not been reached, then the central agent 110 continues searching thesubscription database for the next record with matching householdinformation (step 550). This process continues until the central agent110 searches the entirety of the subscription database 244, assigning ahousehold ID to each record.

[0072] It is to be understood that the present invention is not limitedto the foregoing series of acts organizing the subscription informationby household. Other series of acts may be used. For example, once a newrecord is assigned a household ID, the remaining new records could besearched for the same household. In one alternate embodiment, householdID's could be assigned to new records, one-at-a-time, as each isreceived by the central agent 110. One example of householding softwareincludes that sold under the trademark DYNAWATCH® by DynaMarks^(SM).

[0073] The process of linking subscriptions and calculating andtransmitting add-on options to the consumer 130 will now be describedwith reference to FIG. 6a and 6 b. In the present embodiment, the firststep in allowing the consumer 132 linked subscriptions is excluding orpreventing the consumer from linking subscriptions that do not qualify(step 605). For example, in the present embodiment, subscriptions havingan origination date earlier than a specified date are not entitled tobeing linked. Additionally, those subscriptions made through a specifiedchannel of sale (as indicated in the Subscription Database 244), such asa low quality PDS, do not qualify for linking.

[0074] It is to be understood that other criteria may be used fordetermining whether or not a subscription qualifies for linking. Forexample, in an alternate embodiment, subscriptions which have beenrenewed through other sources more than a given number of times are notqualified for linking. In general, a subscription may be excluded fromlinking based on its time on file.

[0075] For the first subscription actually linked, the central agent 110reads the magazine ID and the future price from the corresponding recordin the subscription database 244 (step 610). Central agent 110 thenproceeds to locate the same magazine ID in the magazine database 248 andread the corresponding half basic rate (step 615).

[0076] The central agent 110 subtracts the half basic rate from thefuture price, thereby calculating the amount committed by the consumerin excess of the half basic rate. This result is added to a cumulativeamount above half basic rate for the consumer (step 620). Thiscumulative amount above half basic rate is temporarily stored in memoryin any one of the components of the central agent 110.

[0077] The central agent 110 then determines whether there are otherlinked subscriptions (step 625). If other linked subscriptions exist,then the central agent 110 repeats the four mentioned steps to continueadding to the cumulative amount above half basic rate.

[0078] On the other hand, if there are no more linked subscriptions,then the central agent 110 presents the cumulative amount above halfbasic rate to the consumer 130 (step 630). This amount represents thedollar figure to be applied to receiving free ad-on subscriptions.

[0079] In order to determine what add-on subscriptions may be offered tothe consumer 130, the central agent determines whether or not thecumulative amount above half basic rate is less than the lowest halfbasic rate of all potential add-ons (step 635). If the cumulative amountis less than the lowest individual half basic rate, then the centralagent 110 displays the message indicating to the consumer 130 that shedoes not qualify for any add-ons (step 640). If the cumulative amount isnot less than the lowest half basic rate, then a consumer has enoughcredits to be applied to potential add-ons.

[0080] Therefore, the central agent 110 presents a list of potentialadd-ons to the consumer 130 and requests the consumer's selection (step645). Central agent 110 then determines whether or not the half basicrate of the consumer's selection is less than the cumulative amount ofboth half basic rate (step 650). By performing this operation, thecentral agent 110 is determining whether or not the consumer 130 hasenough credits to receive the selection. If the half basic rate of theselection is not less than the consumer's cumulative amount above halfbasic, then the central agent 110 displays a message indicating theunavailability of the selection (step 655). The central agent 110 thenpresents the list of potential add-ons to the consumer 130 yet anothertime asking for a different selection (step 645).

[0081] If the half basic rate of the consumer's original selection isless than the cumulative amount above half basic, then the consumer 130is entitled to receive the selection. Thus, the central agent 110temporarily stores the add-on subscription information in the add-ondatabase 246 (step 660). The awarded add-on subscription is not storedin the subscription database 244 in the present embodiment because doingso would result in a duplicative entry in the subscription database 244once the new subscription data was received from the fulfillment houses120.

[0082] Once the add-on subscription has been awarded, the central agent110 subtracts the half basic rate of the selected subscription from thecumulative amount above half basic rate (step 665). Having subtractedthe half basic rate, the consumer's cumulative amount above half basicrate reflects the current amount of credit able to be applied toadd-ons. Therefore, the central agent 110 continues to determine theavailability of add-ons based on this updated cumulative amount abovehalf basic rate (step 635). The central agent 110 continues to awardadd-on subscriptions until the consumer's cumulative above half basicrate is less than the lowest half basic rate of the potential add-onsubscriptions.

[0083] In an alternate embodiment, the subscription database 244 doesnot include a link field. Instead, a separate database includes thesubscription data associated with each linked subscription. In oneembodiment, the same database includes subscription data of both linkedsubscriptions and add-on subscriptions. The central agent would sweepthe contents of such databases and effectuate fulfillment of therelevant subscriptions.

[0084] The billing process of the system 100 will now be described ingreater detail with reference to FIG. 7. In one embodiment this billingprocess is effectuated by the database server farm 240, search server260 and the enterprise server 286. The initial step in the billingprocess is the search of the subscription database 244 for a recordhaving a specified expiration date (step 710). The expiration date inthe present embodiment is a specific date, and the billing is initiateda set time period away from the date the search is being run. Forexample, a typical search may involve locating the records in thesubscription database 244 having an expiration date 45 days in thefuture. In an alternate embodiment, the central agent 110 searches thedatabase for records having an expiration date within a certain range.Once a record having a specified expiration date, the database server240 reads the magazine ID and household ID from the record. With thisinformation, the central agent 110 proceeds to locate the same magazineID in the magazine database 248 and reads the future price (step 715).The central agent 110 also proceeds to locate the same household ID inthe household database 242 and reads the credit card number linked tothe household's subscriptions (step 720).

[0085] It is to be understood that since the databases in the presentembodiment are relational, the searches of the magazine database 248 andhousehold database 242 occur essentially at the same time. In alternateembodiments, however, the two searches may be performed in any order.Once the central agent 110 identifies the relevant future price andcredit card number, the enterprise server 286 proceeds to bill thecredit card number the future price (step 725).

[0086] The central agent 110 then updates the expiration date field inthe subscription database 244 to equal the current expiration date plusthe relevant magazine term (step 730).

[0087] The central agent 110 then determines whether the search hasreached the end of the subscription database (step 735). If the end ofthe database has not been reached, then the central agent 110 continuesto search the subscription database 244 for the next record having thespecified expiration data (step 710). As such, the billing processrepeats until the end of the subscription database 244 is reached. Oncethe end of the database is reached, the central agent 110 recognizesthat the billing procedure has ended (step 740).

[0088] As with the other processes described herein, it is to beunderstood that alterations may be made to the process while keepingwithin the scope of the present invention. For example, the step ofupdating the expiration date to equal to expiration date plus the termof the magazine subscription may be performed immediately after therelevant record in the subscription database 244 has been located.Moreover, it is within the scope of the present invention to providedifferent levels of information to the enterprise server 286. Forexample, in the present embodiment, only the information correspondingto records having the specified expiration date is sent via thefulfillment and merchant gateway 282 to the enterprise 286. In analternate embodiment, a set of records or all records in the entiresubscription database 244 may be transferred to the enterprise 286. Insuch an embodiment, the enterprise server 286 itself performs the searchfor records having the specified expiration date.

[0089] In another alternate embodiment, an account other than a creditcard account is charged for the subscriptions. In such an embodiment, anaccount identifier, instead of a credit card number, is stored in thehousehold database 242 and accessed during billing. Payment may be madeby debiting a checking account, effectuating an electronic transfer ofmoney, using digital money, and the like, and account identifier mayinclude bank and/or account number.

[0090]FIG. 8 illustrates an alternate embodiment of the central agent110. As shown in FIG. 8, the central agent 805 includes CentralProcessing Unit (CPU) 810, Random Access Memory (RAM) 820, Read-OnlyMemory (ROM) 830, large capacity storage device 840, and two interfacedevices 860, 870. As such, the central agent 805 may take the form ofany commercially available server.

[0091] CPU 810 executes program code stored in one or more of RAM 820,ROM 830, and storage device 840 to carry out the functions and actsdescribed above in connection with FIGS. 4-7. CPU 810 preferablycomprises at least one high-speed digital data processor, such as thosesold under the trademark INTEL PENTIUM. CPU 810 also interacts with theinterface devices 860, 870 to communication with consumers andfulfillment houses. CPU 810 interacts with RAM 820, ROM 830, storagedevice 840 and interface device 860, 870 according to conventionalprocessing and computing techniques.

[0092] In alternate embodiments, the interface devices 860, 870 comprisedata input devices, digital data processing terminals, voice recognitionunits, network interfaces, modems, and the like. Data received via theinterface devices 860, 870 is passed to the CPU 810. The CPU 810, inturn, performs operations on the data and, if necessary, transfers it tothe data storage device 840.

[0093] Storage device 840 contains a transaction processor 840 tohousehold database 844, subscription database 846, magazine database 848and add-on database 850. The transaction processor 842 maintains,calculates, and accesses data stored in the databases and generatefulfillment and billing records, as described above in connection withFIGS. 4-7. Preferably, transaction processor 842 encrypts data beforetransmission according to convention encryption techniques. Furthermore,transaction processor 842 comprises a separate conventionalCPU/microprocessor such as those sold under the trademark INTEL PENTIUM.In an alternate embodiment, transaction processor 842 comprises aportion of 810. The contents of the databases is essentially that asdescribed above to FIGS. 3a-3 d.

[0094] Organizing and associating consumer's subscription by householdallows for efficient management of a household's magazine portfolio. Inone embodiment, the central agent 110, via the presentation server farm220, permits a consumer 130 to access the website, enter identifyingconsumer information, such as credit card number, name and address,household ID (if previously made available), or password associated withthe household (if previously made available), and make changes tohousehold subscription data. As such, a consumer 130 can access allhousehold subscriptions at one time based on one identification, and theconsumer 130 can essentially simultaneously make changes to allhousehold subscriptions.

[0095] Specifically, a consumer 130 enters identifying consumerinformation, and the central agent 110 performs a search to retrieve allsubscriptions associated with the consumer's household. In response toprompts from the website GUI, the consumer 130 makes any number ofchanges including: changing credit card numbers; canceling asubscription, add new subscriptions, change address across allsubscriptions, and the like. For example, when the consumer 130 wishesto change her address, she simply enters the new address. The centralagent 110 updates the address in the household database 242 (andpreferably in each subscription record) and communicates the new addressto all relevant fulfillment houses 120.

[0096] One embodiment according to the present invention includes anadded level of security to ensure that no consumer can access or alteranother consumer's subscription. In such an embodiment, the centralagent receives a consumer's selection for linked accounts and add-ons asdescribed above. However, prior to effectuating the linking ofsubscriptions, the central agent generates a password associated withthe consumer. The password is then mailed to the consumer at the addressspecified by subscription data. The consumer must then visit the website and use the password to confirm and effectuate the linking ofsubscriptions. Additionally, the password is necessary for effectuatingcertain consumer service operations, such as cancellation of asubscription. Although not necessary to the implementation of thepresent invention, such security measures helps prevent fraud andensures a pleasant consumer experience. It also to be understood thatuse of the password is but one of many known security measures that maybe implemented in accord with present invention.

[0097] It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that variousmodifications and variations can be made in the system and processes ofthe present invention without departing from the spirit or scope of theinvention. Thus, it is intended that the present invention cover themodifications and variations of this invention provided they come withinthe scope of the appended claims and their equivalents. In this context,equivalents means each and every implementation for carrying out thefunctions recited in the claims, even if not explicitly describedherein.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of consolidating subscriptionscomprising: receiving from one or more fulfillment houses subscriptioninformation corresponding to subscriptions; and organizing thesubscription information by consumer household.
 2. The method of claim 1further comprising: receiving consumer information from a consumer of ahousehold; and matching the consumer information with subscriptioninformation associated with the consumer's household.
 3. The method ofclaim 2 wherein the consumer information is a credit card number.
 4. Themethod of claim 2 wherein the consumer information is consumer name andaddress.
 5. The method of claim 2 wherein the consumer informationincludes a first credit card number and a second credit card number andwherein the subscription information is matched to the first credit cardnumber.
 6. The method of claim 2 further comprising: presenting to theconsumer subscription information matching the received consumerinformation; receiving from the consumer an indication of selectedsubscriptions; and linking a number of the selected subscriptions to thereceived consumer information.
 7. The method of claim 6 wherein thereceived consumer information includes an identifier of an account andthe number of subscriptions are linked to the account identifier, themethod further comprising charging the account for the linkedsubscriptions.
 8. The method of claim 6 further comprising: providingthe consumer a number of add-on subscriptions based on the linkedsubscriptions.
 9. The method of claim 8 wherein the number of add-onsubscriptions is based on the number of linked subscriptions.
 10. Themethod of claim 8 wherein the number of add-on subscriptions is based onan amount paid by the consumer for the linked subscriptions and halfbasic rates of linked subscriptions.
 11. The method of claim 6 whereinall of the subscriptions corresponding to the selected subscriptioninformation are linked to the received consumer information.
 12. Themethod of claim 10 further comprising: for individual linkedsubscriptions, calculating an individual subscription add-on value bysubtracting the half basic rate from the amount paid; and calculating atotal add-on value by summing the individual add-on values of the linkedsubscriptions, wherein providing the add-on subscriptions is based onthe total add-on value.
 13. The method of claim 8 wherein the add-onsubscriptions have associated half basic rates and the providing isbased on the total of the half basic rates of the add-on subscriptions.14. The method of claim 8 further comprising billing the consumer for anadd-on subscription based on the consumer failing to cancel that add-onsubscription.
 15. The method of claim 6 further comprising: transmittingrenewal notices to the consumer and receiving consumer renewalresponses; and providing add-on subscriptions based on consumer renewalresponses.
 16. The method of claim 1 wherein the subscriptioninformation includes subscription expiration date, the method furthercomprising: linking the associated subscription information to anaccount; and automatically billing the account for subscriptionscorresponding to the linked subscription information based on theexpiration date.
 17. The method of claim 2 further comprising: receivinga consumer edit to the subscription information associated with theconsumer's household; and updating the subscription informationassociated with the consumer's household according to the consumeredits.
 18. The method of claim 17 wherein the consumer edit is appliedto subscription information corresponding to multiple subscriptions. 19.The method of claim 17 wherein receiving the consumer edit includesreceiving at least one of the following edits: cancellation, change ofaddress, change of the credit card number, new purchase, and purchase ofgift subscription.
 20. The method of claim 6 further comprising:selectively preventing linking of a subscription.
 21. The method ofclaim 20 wherein selectively preventing linking involves preventinglinking of the subscription based on channel of sale of thesubscription.
 22. The method of claim 20 wherein selectively preventinglinking involves preventing linking of the subscription based on time onfile of the subscription.
 23. The method of claim 1 wherein thesubscription information is received from two or more fulfillment housesand the associating includes associating subscription informationreceived from different fulfillment houses with the same household. 24.A system for consolidating subscriptions, comprising: a storage deviceto store information relating to subscriptions, the information receivedfrom one or more fulfillment houses; and one or more processors coupledto the storage device, the processors configured organize thesubscription information by household.
 25. The system of claim 24wherein the processors are configured to associate information relatingto subscriptions with a household of a consumer based on consumerinformation.
 26. The system of claim 25 wherein the consumer informationis received from the consumer.
 27. The system of claim 25 wherein theconsumer information is part of the information received from thefulfillment houses.
 28. The system of claim 25 wherein the consumerinformation includes an identifier of an account and the processors areconfigured to initiate billing the consumer for subscriptions associatedwith the consumer's household by charging the account.
 29. The system ofclaim 28 wherein the information relating to subscriptions includessubscription expiration date and the processors are configured to billthe consumer for the subscriptions based on the expiration dates. 30.The system of claim 24 wherein the processors are configured todetermine the availability of add-on subscriptions.
 31. A method ofmanaging a magazine portfolio, the method comprising: receivingsubscription information relating to a plurality of subscriptionsassociated with a consumer of a household; providing a consumeridentifier; and selecting at least a portion of the plurality of thesubscriptions for linking to the consumer identifier.
 32. The method ofclaim 31 wherein the consumer identifier is an identifier of an account.33. The method of claim 31 wherein selecting subscriptions for linkingto the consumer identifier is an agreement to renew the selectedsubscriptions.
 34. The method of claim 31 wherein the consumeridentifier is an identifier of an account and selecting subscriptionsfor linking to the consumer identifier is an agreement to have theaccount charged for the selected subscriptions.
 35. The method of claim33 wherein the selected subscriptions were purchased from differentsources, the method her including receiving one or more add-onsubscriptions based on the selected subscriptions.
 36. The method ofclaim 31 further comprising: providing the consumer identifier a secondtime; receiving the subscription information relating to the pluralityof subscriptions associated with the consumer; editing the subscriptioninformation, wherein the subscription information relates tosubscriptions purchased from different sources.
 37. A method ofconsolidating subscription information, the method comprising: receivingfirst subscription information representing a first plurality ofsubscriptions of a first consumer of a household; receiving secondsubscription information representing a second plurality ofsubscriptions of a second consumer of the household; receiving consumerinformation from the first consumer; associating the first subscriptioninformation and the second subscription information together, as part ofthe household.
 38. The method of claim 37 wherein the first plurality ofsubscriptions includes subscriptions purchased from different sources.39. The method of claim 37 wherein the first subscription informationincludes information received from multiple fulfillment houses.
 40. Anarticle of manufacture comprising computer readable code, the computerreadable code including: code for causing a computer system to storesubscription information of a plurality of consumers; and code forcausing the computer system to organize stored consumer subscriptioninformation by household.
 41. The article of manufacture of claim 40wherein the computer readable code further includes code for linkingsubscriptions of a household to a payment account.
 42. A device fororganizing subscriptions, the system comprising: means for storingsubscription information; and means for organizing the subscriptioninformation by household, the means for organizing coupled to the meansfor storing.
 43. The device of claim 42 wherein the means for organizingis further for linking subscription information associated with ahousehold to a consumer identifier.
 44. The device of claim 43 whereinthe consumer identifier is an account identifier and the means fororganizing is further configured to bill the account for subscriptionsassociated with the household.